Iran's crude output at 3.6mn b/d, says oil minister

Iran's crude output has risen to around 3.6mn b/d, according to the country's oil minister Javad Owji. This puts production at the highest level since sanctions were reimposed on Tehran's oil sector in 2018 following Washington's exit from the Iran nuclear deal.

"Our oil production, which was 2.1mn b/d at the beginning of our time in office [in September 2021], has reached 3.6mn b/d," Owji said today during a presentation to the Iranian parliament.

"During these three years… with round-the-clock work and effort, production of crude oil in the country rose by more than 1.4mn b/d," he said. "A major part of that increase came through signing investment contracts with [domestic] contractors."

When the administration of Iran's late president Ebrahim Raisi assumed office, Iran's crude exports were at their lowest level in a decade, Owji added.

Owji's current production figure is 200,000 b/d above where he put Iranian crude output in November last year. At that time, he predicted a rise to 3.6mn b/d by March 2024, continuing an upward trend since the back end of 2022. In July last year, Owji put output at just shy of 3.1mn b/d.

His latest assessment is around 300,000 b/d above Argus' estimate for both April and May. The last time Argus estimated Iranian crude output as high as 3.6mn b/d was back in July 2018.

The rebound in production has been driven by Iran's ability to boost its exports. Iranian exports began picking up in the months after US president Joe Biden assumed office in January 2021, reaching around 700,000-750,000 b/d compared with 500,000 b/d before the US election.

It was not until the second half of 2022 that exports took another leap, to 1mn b/d and beyond. Iran's crude exports have averaged just shy of 1.6mn b/d since the start of this year, according to data from Vortexa, up from 1.42mn b/d in 2023 and 990,000 b/d in 2022.

The reasons for the revival in exports have been the subject of much debate, with some attributing it to more relaxed enforcement of sanctions by the US and others saying it has more to do with Iran scaling up its methods of circumvention. The debate even became a point of contention among Iranian presidential candidates this week as they gear up for the country's election on 28 June.

Conservative candidates and even regime hardliners largely attribute the boost in exports to methods of circumvention.

"Constructive and extensive relations with the world are required for [improving] the economy. This happened during the tenure of martyr Raisi. Now the US foreign secretary must explain to the [US] Senate why Iran can sell 2mn b/d of oil now," former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said on 15 June.

Raisi administration officials have repeatedly pointed to their techniques to get around sanctions and "energy diplomacy" as reasons for Iran's success in raising exports. But the reformist camp refutes those claims, with former foreign minister Javad Zarif rejecting the conservative narrative on state television on 18 June.

"They [hardliners] said 'we taught them how to sell oil.' Not at all," Zarif said. "When Biden took office, his policy was to loosen the screw. Wait until Trump returns to office, and then we can see what [the hardliners] say."

By Bachar Halabi and Nader Itayim